Getting Started with R

• Understand and use of each pane in the RStudio IDE
• Locate buttons and options in the RStudio IDE
• Run code
• Save things to an object
• Call functions
• Know what packages are and how to install and load them
• Inspecting data and doing simple plots
• Make a map in R, exporting images in R

At its simplest, R is like a car's engine while RStudio is like a car's dashboard

• R is a programming language that runs computations
• RStudio is an integrated development environment (IDE) that provides an interface by adding many convenient features and tools
• RStudio Cloud provides us access to RStudio & R in the cloud via a web browser

Much as we don't drive a car by interacting directly with the engine but rather by interacting with elements on the car's dashboard, we won't be using R directly but rather we will use RStudio's interface.

• Unlike other statistical software & mapping programs like Excel, SPSS, or QGIS that provide point-and-click interfaces, R is an interpreted language
• This means you have to type in commands written in R code.

• There's a lot of terminology in programming and R - we don't expect you to learn all of it now
• We'll take a learn by doing approach in this class
• We've created a glossary in the course on some basic ones you can reference if you get stuck.
• The primers in RStudio Cloud also give you some context to concepts and terms.

The best way to master these topics is, in our opinions, through deliberate practice with R and lots of repetition.

• Remember that computers are not actually that smart
• Take the “copy, paste, and tweak” approach
• The best way to learn to code is by doing
• Practice is key

R packages extend the functionality of R by providing additional functions, data, and documentation. They are written by a worldwide community of R users and can be downloaded for free from the internet. They are essential features of R - we will be using packages in this class.

A good analogy for R packages is they are like apps you can download onto a mobile phone:

• We first install packages to our machine. You can use the Packages menu on the right bottome pane.

• I'll be live coding in RStudio Cloud
• You'll be following along with me, typing all the code and running it
• You have your own copy of the class notes R script and I'll check to make sure you participating
• We also have a separate R Script called challenges that I'll prompt you to solve inclass
• The important things is to try, we'll go over answers together

Follow this link to the shared RStudio Project. It is also in your course website.